Lewis Brinson does not have to adjust to the intensity at this time of the year as his Yomiuri Giants fight for a spot in the postseason.

That is because he has felt like he was in a playoff-like atmosphere from Day 1.

Iori Yamasaki delivered a strong day, and Brinson backed him up with a two-run double to help lift the Kyojin to a 5-1 win over the DeNA BayStars at Tokyo Dome on Saturday.

"It's been a playoff atmosphere the whole time I've been here, with the cheering and the bands and stuff," said Brinson, who is in his first season in Japan with the Giants. "So from Game 1, it's been like a playoff atmosphere in every stadium we've been to.

"It's just kind of getting me used to this time of year when games mean a little bit more, but you just go out there and play your game. It's just another game. But, especially here at the Tokyo Dome, they fill it up, so it's great to run out there to all those fans cheering for us."

The Giants are currently battling to get into playoff position. Yomiuri is in fourth place in the Central League and trails the third-place BayStars by two games for the final playoff spot.

Giants outfielder Akihiro Yuto singled to start the fifth and Hisayoshi Chono walked before Brinson opened the scoring with a one-out, two-run double to left.

"I was just trying to get those two runs home anyway I could," Brinson said. "I tried to stay through the middle, not pull off the ball. I knew he was probably going to come slider, but just tried to stay through the middle and hit something to the outfield."

That was enough for Yamasaki, who took a perfect game into the sixth to help Yomiuri snap a four-game losing streak.

"Oshiro said my cutter was good from the first inning," Yamasaki said, referring to catcher Takumi Oshiro. "My fastball was also good and the defense played well and everyone helped me.

Yamasaki, who bounced back from a rough outing against the Hiroshima Carp in his previous start, allowed one run on three hits in 7⅔ innings to improve to 9-3 with a 2.97 ERA.

"We've been coming up short the past couple of games, but he was pitching a great game," Brinson said. "Those two runs were really important, so I took pride in getting those runs home."

Brinson raced to second on his double in the fifth. He showed off his speed again when he scored from second on Takayuki Kajitani's RBI single later in the inning. Brinson punctuated the dash with a head-first slide into home.

It was in stark contrast to the scene on Thursday against the Hanshin Tigers when Brinson was slow out of the box after thinking he had hit a home run and ended up with a single instead of an extra-base hit.

"That's on me," he said. "I thought it was a home run, it wasn't, and I gotta be on second or third on that play. It's just a mistake. You learn from it. I'm not gonna do that again."

Shugo Maki gave the BayStars their only run with a solo homer in the seventh inning. The homer made Maki the sixth NPB player to begin his career with three straight 20-homer seasons.

Hayato Sakamoto gave the Giants a couple of insurance runs with a two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth to make the score 5-1.

BayStars pitcher Kentaro Taira (3-4), a former Giants player, was charged with the loss after allowing three runs over five innings.

The teams split the first two games of the current series, which will wrap up at Tokyo Dome on Sunday afternoon.

“We’re just trying to stay strong, stay together, play as a team and finish strong down the stretch,” Brinson said.